The Research Questions - Natural Social Spaces: How Do We Research Social Media and Development Trends, Dynamics, and Impact? Learning from a Polio and Routine Immunization and Social Media Research Initiative in Ukraine

The Research Questions

Three major research questions guided the research design:

1. In which natural online spaces are people in Ukraine gathering to seek and share information and ideas on child health?
2. What patterns can we discern from the engagement in those spaces that can inform improvements in strategies and programming action on child health in Ukraine?
3. What strategic and programming recommendations arise from that analysis for improved strategies and programming action on child health issues in Ukraine?

This study used a unique experimental approach of social media mapping to discover platforms where communities of parents, health and education professionals, and other civil society actors gather naturally.

Specifically, the study examined how different communities in Ukraine use social media to communicate and search for information by applying a qualitative approach based on manual searches and monitoring of popular and thematic social media spaces on Facebook⁸ and Vkontakte (one of Ukraine's most popular social media networks until it was banned by the Ukraine government in May 2017, though it still seems to be available⁹).

Editor's note: Above is an excerpt of a study made possible by the generous support of the American people through USAID under the terms of the Cooperative Agreement AID-OAA-A-14-00028. The contents are the responsibility of the Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. The full table of Contents is here.

The previous section in this paper is Recap: The Social Media Context.
The next section in this paper is The Research Design.